


Horan's Lovely World

by cuddlydreamsonrainydays



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Ice Cream, M/M, Soulmate AU, Surfing, basically Niall has a weird theory but it somehow works
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-27
Updated: 2015-08-27
Packaged: 2018-04-17 13:12:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4667825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cuddlydreamsonrainydays/pseuds/cuddlydreamsonrainydays
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niall sells ice cream and dreams about soulmates.<br/>Liam just so happens to fit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Horan's Lovely World

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya!  
> I've got a little something for you that I hope you'll enjoy.  
> I don't own One Direction, neither are they really like they're described in this work.

Niall has been standing behind his ice cream stand for five hours now and he’s getting uncomfortable. It’s a simple stand, really, and he’s the only one to sell the ice cream, never getting a proper break. He doesn’t actually make it himself, that’s his grandparents’ job (they do it amazing). 

They moved to Australia with him when Niall’s parents died in a car crash, to take him out of the environment that always made him remember, and now they make their home-made Italian ice cream at their place near the surfing beach all year and Niall sells it there, right at the seafront. They’re cult amongst the surfers. 

It’s February, and it’s not as hot as two months ago anymore, but also far from cold yet, and there’s a shitload of surfers and tourists at the beach. In addition it’s Sunday, so there’s not only tourists and dedicated surfers, but also random people just enjoying a walk at the seafront. Every single one of them, most of all the obnoxiously loud children, seems to want ice cream from ‘Horan’s Lovely World’. 

It’s great for a while. 

Niall enjoys talking to people immensely and he loves how happy his granddad is when he has to call them for new ice cream already around noon (especially their chocolate ice cream sells out amazingly), but after five hours at a stretch, he is getting stressed. 

“I want strawberry and mango in a cone with sprinkles!” The little girl in front of him pulls at her mother’s hand and whines. Niall sighs internally, but outside, he smiles at her and hands her the ice cream she asked for. Her mother pays, and the girl pulls her away again. The poor mother, Niall thinks for a moment, though it is probably her own fault that the girl is so spoiled. 

Next in line is a smiling man around forty that wants two cones with two scoops each, both of them hazelnut and pistachio. Is that how couples work out? Because if so, Niall needs someone to come and order three scoops, but in a cup, please, and the flavours would have to be chocolate, hazelnut and snickers. 

He laughs humourlessly to himself, earning a weird glance from the next customer, a girl about sixteen. She wants mango and lime in a cup and smiles at him sweetly, but Niall stays professional. He’s not interested in her, and that’s not because of the wrong ice cream flavours. He’s just not interested in girls at all. 

He’s eighteen and he’s never been in a relationship. The next customer is a regular. His name is Harry, he’s nineteen and he teaches surfing to beginners at the beach. He’s nice, and Niall considers him a friend, but Harry also has a boyfriend that teaches at the same surfing school and the two of them are disgustingly cute together, so Niall’s the designated third wheel whenever they hang out.

“Hey Harry! Banana and caramel for you two today? Or tiramisu?” Niall asks. 

“Caramel,” Harry answers and shakes his long, curly hair out of his face. He’s wet all over and Niall can see Louis waving from behind him, sitting on his surfboard with Harry’s next to him. 

“Hi, Niall. Busy day?” Niall sighs. 

“You got it, mate.” He hands Harry the two cones and puts the money into the cash box. 

“It’s going to be over soon. I’ll see you around!” Harry calls and sprints back to his boyfriend before the ice cream gets a chance to melt. The stand is quiet for a moment. Niall uses his chance to practise his hobby: Watching the surfers. 

He’s tried surfing three times, but he’s a hopeless case, even Harry says that and refuses to try to teach him a fourth time. That’s how they got to know each other, also. Niall’s just not the sporty type. His coordination is awful and he doesn’t even like water that much. He is completely fine at the beach, watching. Most of the surfers perform really cool tricks or make fools of themselves because they are raw recruits. It’s fun to watch. 

It’s a pity the stand is so far away from the water, though, because Niall can only see them as little figures that look somewhat human and he can’t really stalk them. It’s for the better, probably, because surfers are damn hot and he’d totally forget about his job all the time. 

“Hi, I’d like chocolate, hazelnut and snickers, but in a cup, please.” 

“Holy shit,” Niall blurts out totally inappropriately. He looks up and stares into the most beautiful face he’s ever seen. 

“Um?” The boy in front of him raises one eyebrow questioningly and fuck, he must be Niall’s soulmate. He’s a surfer, obviously, because he’s completely soaked and wearing a wetsuit. And he’s incredibly fit. 

Niall’s breathe hitches when his eyes trail over the defined biceps and the abs that shows through the wetsuit that is clinging to his body. He is snapped out of his thoughts when the boy in front of him clears his throat uncomfortably. 

“Is there something wrong?” Niall’s eyes widen. Oh fuck, he’s been checking the boy out a lot too obviously. He looks up to his face again quickly, and oh, that wasn’t such a good idea. It is still as breath-taking as before. So he focuses on his possible soulmate’s (the “couples like the same ice cream”-thing is only a theory after all) ice cream instead and tries to hide his highly visible blush by looking down. His cheeks feel like they are on fire. 

“Uh, sorry, no, I was just a bit out of it. Hazelnut, chocolate, snickers.” He almost feels physical pain from shrugging it off, letting this beautiful boy go, but for all Niall knows, he’s probably straight, and judging by his looks, in a relationship. He hands the boy his cup. 

“Sorry for my weird behaviour. It’s on the house?” God, his voice is too freaking high. What’s up with him? 

“Well, I wouldn’t say no to that,” mystery boy answers. He still looks quite creeped out though, and Niall’s blush just won’t go away. Shit, he’s eighteen, he’s never had a boyfriend and this is why. 

“Are you on vacation here?” He tries to make conversation, to prove the boy and himself that he’s neither insane nor a little child, and it seems to work. 

“No, I’m here to stay. I just moved here for university. I’m from England. Are you Irish?” Niall nods. 

“Yeah. Moved here with my grandparents, and now I’ve been selling their ice cream for three years.” The boy laughs, and it’s the most beautiful laugh Niall has ever head. He’s fallen for someone he doesn’t even know the name off head over heels. 

“I guess if you live here now I’ll see you around? Our ice cream is quite famous. And I should at least know your name.” 

“Liam,” the boy says, licking his spoon empty. Does he want to torture Niall or what is up with him? “And yours?” 

“Niall.” They smile at each other, and Niall feels like he’s saved his dignity at least a little bit. A woman behind Liam clears her throat not very subtly. 

“Right, yeah, sorry,” Liam says, and now he’s the one blushing, and it’s adorable. In combination with his big brown puppy eyes, he looks like a big teddy bear that Niall desperately wants to cuddle. Ugh, he’s gone mad and sappy within minutes. 

“I’ll be off, see you around.” Niall doesn’t get a chance to answer before Liam is gone. The woman shakes her head in a condemnatory manner. Niall doesn’t really care. He’s let her wait two minutes at most, and she looks like she never smiles anyways. 

“Lime and Pistachio in a cup, please, and chocolate and caramel in a second cup.” 

“Of course.” When Niall hands her the two cups over the counter (her scoops are essentially smaller than Liam’s and he should really stop letting his feelings influence his word so much), he looks behind her and sees a man waiting with two bikes. He guesses that it is her husband, and this is definitely not a happy relationship. All because of the ice cream. 

He should release a theory about that, he might get a Nobel Prize for his discovery that matching ice cream preferences are closely linked to working out relationships. She pays and then luckily leaves again. Liam is nowhere to be seen anymore. Niall sighs. It’s four in the afternoon, one more hour until his break. 

Well, kind of a break, because he has to ride his bike home and replace the empty ice cream containers with new ones for the evening. It’s what he does every single day and many people would soon get bored, but Niall likes his job in the family business. School has never really worked out for him anyways, he didn’t plan to study anything at university and he gets to meet new people and talk to regulars every day. Those often stay for a quick chat. And he gets to watch the surfer’s. 

He doesn’t plan to leave the ‘Horan’s Lovely World’ family business ever. When it’s a rainy day and they don’t open the ice cream stand, his grandparents already teach him how to make the ice cream, and since he’s practically grown up with it, he’s a natural. They’re withholding their secret until now, though, never letting him do every single step. Niall’s eager to find out, but right now he’s tired. 

Thinking about Liam, his possible soulmate, gets him through the hour quickly and with a natural smile on his face. He closes the ice cream stand at five pm sharp, after helping himself to the exact same Liam ordered before because it is what he always takes. 

They have to be soulmates. Too bad Liam is quite a bit out of his league. Niall sighs to himself, bikes home with the empty and back to the beach with the full ice cream containers, and mentally prepares himself for the last three hours of his day. He just hopes that Liam will come back the next day, and finds himself almost exchanging the ice cream that the customer wants for hazelnut, chocolate and snickers way too often. 

He’s really got it bad. 

The next day, he’s cheery and jumpy from early in the morning on already, and when Harry shows up around half past two, of course he notices. 

“Hi, Niall, today we’d like banana and tiramisu, please, and what is up with you?” Niall sighs and stops bouncing up and down. 

“Hi, Harry. I have a theory,” he explains with sparkling eyes, “that soulmates like the same ice cream flavours. Look at you and Louis, and how happy you are!” 

“And then someone wanted exactly your favourites?” Harry sounds amused, putting the cash on the counter. 

“In a cup. But I almost scared him away, kind of… Well, I think I was able to fix it. His name is Liam, and he’s so fit, like…” Niall trails of, lost for words. Harry laughs and grabs the two ice cream cones. 

“Mate, good luck with that one.” 

“Thanks,” Niall sighs. What is he even going to tell Liam? Hey I have this theory that we are soulmates could I maybe take you on a date? That’s just bound to scare him away. 

“I want chocolate and raspberry and cookies in a cone and with chocolate sprinkles!” Niall looks up. There’s a little boy in front of him, already putting some coin on the counter with his sticky hands. Niall counts the money in his head while he scoops the ice cream into a cone, internally screaming because why don’t little children have manners? 

At least the money is right on and he the boy runs off happily with his ice cream. Niall puts his arms on the counter and rests his head on them for a moment because he can’t spot any customers approaching. He is so fucked. A girl about ten pokes his arm with her finger. 

“Mummy, is he sleeping?” Niall jumps up immediately, mentally scolding himself. He is still at work! 

“I’m so sorry! What can I get for you, princess?” The girl giggles and her mother smiles. Niall is really glad that his thoughts have been interrupted by nice people.  
“I’d like raspberry please, and vanilla.” 

“In a cup or a cone?” 

“A cone!” Niall smiles at her. There are actually nice children, at least when they are a bit older already. Her mother politely asks for a single scoop of mint chocolate chip in a cup and then pays. 

Around twenty past three, Niall’s bouncy excitement has disappeared into thin air. Why did he even think Liam would show up two days in a row? It’s Monday, after all, he probably has classes and can’t even go surfing. 

The day is also by far cloudier than yesterday, and the weather is getting worse with every hour. Niall’s frustrations screams for a big cup of ice cream, so he plans to indulge in three very generous scoops of his favourite flavours, naturally. He’s just finished preparing when he hears someone gasp loudly in pain not far from him. 

Being kind as he is, he leaves his position inside the ice cream stand to check if someone is hurt and needs help. He almost drops his cup of ice cream that he’s unconsciously taken with him when he sees who is sitting on the stones right in front of him. It’s Liam. He is grimacing with pain and holding his ankle. Niall rushes toward him. 

“Liam, oh my god, are you okay?” 

“I think so,” Liam says through gritted teeth. 

“More or less. I think I sprained my ankle, though, I can’t put any pressure on it.” 

“I’ll get you an ice pack! Take this for so long, on the house for the injured.” Niall shoves his cup of ice cream into Liam’s hands and rushes off to get an icepack, only realizing on the way how he managed to embarrass himself completely twice in two days now. He seems like a crazy stalker, having Liam’s ice cream from the day before prepared. 

He definitely needs to explain this as soon as he’s gotten the stupid ice pack. Luckily there are a lot of those around the ice cream containers, adding to the cooling as an Australian summer is hot. Just like Liam. No, stop those thoughts for a moment! He runs back to Liam with the ice pack, crouching down next to him. Today he’s not wet from water, but sweaty, and Niall’s problem with keeping his eyes off of Liam’s body is constantly getting worse. 

“Thanks,” Liam says, pressing the ice pack on his ankle. His previously tense muscles loosen up a bit immediately. 

“No problem, really. Listen, don’t think I had your ice cream prepared and saw you coming or something like that it’s just that those three flavours are what I like best, too, and that cup was mine, yeah? Please don’t be creeped out by me, I know I was already weird yesterday.” Liam laughs. 

“It’s okay, I don’t think you’re creepy. Well, not anymore. And being a bit weird is never bad, at least it’s not boring, don’t worry.” Niall takes a deep, relieved breath. 

“Thank god. How is your ankle?” 

“It seems to be worse than I’d thought.” 

“I always said sport will kill anyone. Come on, I’ll take you to a doctor on the back of my glorious bike.” 

“But what about your job?” Liam looks worried and he’s right. A line has already formed in front of the stand. 

“I’ll get those people their ice cream and then close it. I would have my break in like an hour anyways, and just look at the sky for once.” 

“If you say so,” Liam says, still not convinced, but he also seems grateful. “I’ll wait here with my ice cream. You’ll get your money later.” Niall wants to tell him not to worry about that, but firstly it would be inappropriate to offer him free ice cream two days in a row (Niall would gladly offer him a lifetime supply) and secondly, the people in the line are getting impatient, so he heads back quickly. 

He apologizes to the customers, absent-mindedly fills cones and cups with the ice cream they wish for and puts the money into his cash box. He’s done with the line ten minutes later and closes the stand. 

His grandparents will understand. They didn’t move to Australia to get rich after all, they moved here to make their dream come true, and normally, their income still lies above their expenses. Liam is waiting for him patiently. It takes a while to get the taller boy on his bike. 

“This is not going to work.” 

“I transport practically a ton of ice cream on this thing every day, and the hospital is not that far. Just believe me.” 

“I’m not ice cream!” 

“But you do like the right flavours.” 

“Excuse me?” 

“Never mind.” Liam is looking at him questioningly again, and Niall wants to slap himself so hard that he manages to shut up for a change. Instead, he pedals furiously and gets the bike to move. They wobble dangerously for a moment, but Niall quickly gets his bike under control. It’s not that easy with Liam’s arms tight around his waist, distracting him immensely. 

They reach the hospital ten minutes later and register Liam at the reception. He’s told to stay in the waiting room until a doctor is ready. 

“You don’t have to wait for me,” he tells Niall, who only looks outside through the waiting room window, spotting big droplets of rain falling down from the grey sky.

“I’d rather,” he states. “It is raining.” Liam smiles a little, sweet smile. 

“Thank you then.” Niall calls his granddad quickly, and gets the confirmation that they really don’t mind, especially not while it is raining. They even tell him to invite Liam over for dinner later. 

“Everything alright,” Niall announces when he gets back into the waiting room. Liam smiles again. 

“Thanks a lot for helping me, really, I don’t know who I would have called. I haven’t really had the chance to make friends.” 

“Well, consider me your friend from now on.” Or more, he adds silently. “By the way, my grandparents invited you over for dinner. There will be grandma’s ice cream… Fresh. It’s even better than at the stand when she makes it for dessert, though I can’t tell you why.” 

“I can’t really say no to that, can I?” 

“You better shouldn’t,” Niall threats as a joke. Liam laughs again. Niall always wants to make him laugh or smile or just do anything that involves Liam and be around him all the time and just stare into his eyes. His entire head is full of Liam. 

“What do you study?” He asks, breaking the silence. 

“Psychology,” Liam says, and Niall is impressed. Liam’s not only beautiful and fit and nice but also smart. 

“That’s fascinating, isn’t it? You know, I have this theory…” 

“What theory?” Liam asks, interested. 

“I might make a fool of myself in front of you all over again, but… okay.” Liam cocks his head, watching Niall struggle with his words. 

“I can’t promise you not to laugh.” 

“It’s about soulmates in conjunction with ice cream,” Niall blurts out and there it is. Liam looks like he hasn’t understood a word. Niall can’t really blame him. “Let me explain this. So, my mates Harry and Louis are a couple and they obviously belong to each other. And they always buy exactly the same ice cream. Literally always, it’s mad. And I’ve noticed that there are other couples that have the same ice cream, and those are the happy couples. And the ones that have really different flavours, like one has lime and pistachio and the other one has chocolate and caramel, those are similar in no way, then those are the least happy couples. It’s always like that, and I spend a freaking lot of time selling ice cream. And never has anyone ever asked for what you asked for, which is my favourite, so…” 

“Your theory leads to us being soulmates?” 

“Well, essentially…” Liam shakes his head, laughing, but it’s a good laugh. 

“I’d say we have to try this out then.” He leans forward with a sudden movement and kisses Niall right on the lips. Niall is so stunned that he sits frozen for a few seconds, but then he returns the kiss. It’s insecure in the beginning, however it is perfect and everything fits and Niall gets totally lost immediately. He can tell that Liam feels the same. It’s magic. 

“Wow,” he whispers when they part. Liam smiles widely at him, his eyes even bigger than normally. 

“You seem to have a point with your theory.” 

“Will you be my boyfriend?” Niall blurts out and blushes vigorously seconds after. “I mean, this is like really early and we know almost nothing about each other but I’d really like to change that and…” 

“I’d love to,” Liam answers simply. He winks. “But only if there’s ice cream!” 

“Well, the invitation for dinner at my house is still up.” Niall winks back. A minute later, Liam gets called in. He comes out after a while with a bandage around his ankle that is, in fact, sprained. Niall takes him home on his bike and his grandparents only smile mysteriously when they hear the story. (Their favourite ice cream flavours are chocolate and praline.) 

At night, Niall and Liam are lying in the garden together, both with their dessert, talking under the stars. And this is when their future starts.  
Niall’s grandparents finally tell him the secret that makes their ice cream so unique and irreplaceable, and Liam, who is by then finished with his studies, joins him when he takes over the business. They start playing matchmaker through the ice cream soulmate theory and it works out every single time. 

(But only ever at ‘Horan’s Lovely World’.)


End file.
